Category Archives: Historic

Ed Catmull appeared along with Brad Bird, Andrew Stanton and others for a panel talk on the history of computer animation that was held at The Computer History Museum 6 years ago. It runs for one hour and forty minutes. Ed Catmull was Co-Founder and President, Pixar Animation Studios. Brad Bird was writer/director on The Incredibles at Pixar Animation Studios. Other speakers; Alvy Ray Smith, Co-Founder of four centers of computer graphics excellence (Altamira, Pixar, Lucasfilm, New York Tech) and a Microsoft Fellow, Andrew Stanton, Writer/ Director, Finding Nemo, Pixar Animation Studios, and Michael Rubin, Moderator, Author of Droidmaker: George Lucas and the Digital Revolution.

In 1972 Ed Catmull (founder of Pixar) and his colleagues created the world’s first 3D rendered movie, an animated version of Ed’s left hand. This is the film that they produced. It includes some “making of” footage (around 1:30) and some other early experiments. Read more at nerdplusart.com/​?p=1106.

Back in the day adverts were much cuter. This Rolo ad from the Richard Williams Animation Studio was painstakingly restored by overlaying two different video copies. Noise reduction software was used to take out some dirt and dropouts. There is more information about the restoration at FFrevolution.

Mickey tries to emulate his hero, Charles Lindberg, and woo Minnie with his own, homemade airplane. Directed by Walt Disney.

This was the first Mickey Mouse cartoon to be made. A silent version was previewed in Los Angeles, but failed to impress audiences, so did not go on general release. A second cartoon, The Gallopin’ Gaucho, was also put on hold.

After the success of the the sound film, Steamboat Willie, Disney released Plane Crazy with sound in 1929. This leads to some ambiguity as to which is the first Mickey Mouse cartoon, as Plane Crazy was the first to be produced while Steamboat Willie was the first to be released.

Mickey and Minnie play the uke and dance for a few brief moments – then it’s on to the main body of the short as Goofy surfs, Pluto fights with a crab, and Donald sets himself on fire. From the Walt Disney Studios, directed by Ben Sharpsteen.

An RKO newsreel looks at the making of Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. “We take you behind the closed doors of the famed Walt Disney studios in Hollywood” enthuses the newsreel commentator. “Doors usually barred to all visitors. In the past three years the studio staff has grown from less than 300 to more that 700 artists and musicians. They worked in shifts, night and day to complete this unique entertainment…”

Produced by Max Fleischer. Betty Boop is a dentist trying to remove a painful tooth for Koko. When she administers laughing gas things get out of hand. Directed by Dave Fleischer. Animated by Seymour Kneitel and Roland Crandall.

This is the full length feature. Animal Farm was the first British animated feature to be released worldwide. It is an adaptation of George Orwell’s classic satire on Stalinism, with the animals taking over their farm by means of a revolutionary coup, but then discovering that although all animals are supposed to be equal, some are more equal than others.

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